Oscar 2011 - Best Picture

I still disagree with the Academy's last year decision of expanding the nominee number for best picture from 5 to 10. It's simply marketing and nothing more. It's obvious that you can remove some titles when considering this category without worrying that they actually had chances to win. Even so, there is a good part. If for last year I still wonder how did they manage to find enough movies to get 10 nominations, considering the quality, this year is probably the best in the last ten as number of very good movies/number of nominees. Usually I had one, maybe two if not zero titles nominated here that I actually liked. As much as necessary to consider rewatching sometime. This year I have five. From these five I consider that one should get the Oscar for the best picture, but I would like another one to take it :). However, it won't be neither of them. Let's see the nominations ...

"Black Swan" - .. I just realize that I was wrong above. I liked five of this year's nominations quite a lot, but there is one of them that I don't think I want to see it again - this one. It's a film I enjoyed exclusively for the movie making and for the look of the final result, and not for the story or the subject. It's one of the two movies this year that manage to create a sufficiently intense feeling in order to change your state of spirit you had before entering the cinema (and I mean for longer than ten minutes before forgetting it and thinking of something else). It's the best movie I've ever seen that exploits a mental issue to build its story. The story is one of a ballerina who wants so badly to get a role that develops a quite advanced degree of psychosis on this ( I think the depicted condition is more close to psychosis than schizophrenia from what I know .. anyway, maybe I'm not right ..). The movie manages to be so efficient in presenting the story that it gives you the creeps at the thought that what you see is actually plausible in reality. All the fear, the tension, the dementia are so well expressed by the way the movie is shot, edited, etc. I wrote about this also in some previous entries on other categories ( forgot to mention about the mirrors when talking about cinematography :) ). Well, even if it's probably the movie that manages to express most well it's base idea it's still a niche movie considering it's psychological noir tragedy genre, so I'm not seeing it higher than 3 in an Oscar favorite top list.

"The Fighter" - is probably the movie with the best casting at this category, I think a bit above "The King's Speech". The film is something like a "Rocky" based on real facts - the story of a boxer from a poor neighborhood who eventually manages to get a title. I wrote more details in January - here. So I don't know if it makes any sense to say much more now. It's one of the movies that I won't bet a dime on the Oscars except for the actors. Because the rest was already seen in too many productions on the same topic (and for some reason it seems the americans like them enough to give awards, but I'm pretty sure it won't happen for Best Picture).

"Inception" - ... well, this is the movie that I would like to get the Oscar. I don't see any chances for that considering it didn't get a nomination for directing and also more surprisingly neither for editing. And I don't know any movie in the last 20 years to win the award for best movie and not to be nominated to at least one of these two. It's a story that is based on the lucid dreaming concept (much more real than you might think), the subject evolving around a group of individuals able to manipulate the information at the subconscious level. It's my type of SF and I actually waited for this movie to come out for about one year (since the first trailer). It was nice, but it wasn't enough. And I'm not so surprised or better said not very disappointed that Nolan didn't get a nomination for directing. There is one problem with the movie. It doesn't have as much warmth for the story it tells as it could. You don't get a powerful enough feeling related with the characters or the action that unfolds. Anyway, this is a very personal point of view from someone who knew a bit about lucid dreaming before seeing the movie and ... also did read "Ubik" by P.K.Dick. What's "Ubik" ? "Ubik" is a book written somewhere in the '60s that has quite a lot in common with the (original) screenplay of "Inception". It's not the same story ... but are pretty much the same ideas. Instead of lucid dreaming we have artificially sustained coma. Instead a group of individuals dealing with manipulating this state of mind we have a group of individuals dealing with counteracting manipulators of somebody's mind (generally speaking, not coma related). But in the end, and that's the beauty of the book - in the end - all resumes to the same stuff : the ability to create places, things, and other stuff, manipulate them, interact with other people - all at the subconscious level, not being able to discern what's exactly real and what is not, and of course .. the ending. The ending is the same as in "Inception". We have a coin instead of a spinning top, that we don't actually now what it says. Again, the stories as action are different, the contexts are however very much alike. Nolan didn't mention anything about "Ubik" as far as I know, but I tend to think he did read the book at some point in his life. The problem is that if you'll read the book you'll probably be a bit disappointed about the movie (just a bit). At least from my point of view "Ubik" unfolds in a way that is really able to get to your heart in the end. Thing that I haven't felt as much in "Inception". Mainly because of this I'll stick to the opinion that "The Prestige" is the best movie made by Nolan, because at least for me remains the more powerful regarding the feeling it gives. But, considering that "Inception" is one of the stories I really wanted to see on screen :) I'll also stick to the wish to see it getting the Oscar, as unlikely as it is. I'll end talking about this nomination with a quote .. from "Ubik" which is a bit cryptic even in the book (it's just the final chapter's motto) .. because of this as a warning that I really wanted to avoid but I think I must say it, just try to disregard any religious point of view when you read the next lines .. it's an idea that may have some connection somewhere with some form of religion but what it wants to say in essence is completely distinct of any such stuff - my interpretation in the context of the book is that this is just a self-said definition of the human subconscious: "I am Ubik. Before the universe was, I am. I made the suns. I made the worlds. I created the lives and the places they inhabit; I move them here, I put them there. They go as I say, they do as I tell them. I am the word and my name is never spoken, the name which no one knows. I am called Ubik, but that is not my name. I am. I shall always be."

"The Kids Are All Right" - ... I feel like falling from a nice sunny mountain top to a dark muddy swamp just by writing the title after talking about the previous movie. Well .. I've seen during past years among the Oscar nominations an entire row of comedies with drama tendencies, with a lot of weirdness/crazyness in their action: "Little Miss Sunshine", "Juno", "A Man Apart", etc. Somehow it happened that I liked them all, and in some cases even more than the other nominations. And that's really something considering I'm not really into comedies. That's because I think is the genre with the highest percent of junk movies per year = very often overusing the same subjects in lame "being funny" attempts. Fortunately, at the Oscar we had quite good comedies. Not this year ... "The Kids Are All Right" respects the recipe of original crazy subject: the son and daughter of a lesbian couple decide one day that they want to meet their father, a former sperm donor that no one knows what kind of person is. Original, that's pretty much this film has in common with other comedies we've seen nominated here. Actually I don't even think the comedy is the dominant genre here, because the movie unfolds more like a typical family drama, with many dialog cliches and lots of loose ends (just one of the many .. example spoiler: there isn't very clear what will happen with the kids father in the end, we just see him leaving after a sort of a fight which is not very convincing to consider the character out of story). I don't know what more to say besides that there is one title somewhere below that I boycott since a while and even so I think is better than this one.

"The King's Speech" is considered by many the favorite to the Best Picture Oscar this year based on the 12 nominations it got, on the BAFTA it recently won and also on some other awards. I disagree. It was pretty clear that it will get the BAFTA but with the Oscars there's another story. I don't know .. Maybe I'm wrong but .. I don't want to brag, I haven't been wrong since "Chicago" (well, maybe enough time passed for another error :) ). I'm not saying that the movie is not good. It just looks too .. normal. Generally the Oscar is given to something that can differentiate a bit in the genre it belongs. Here the main aspect to consider is the casting, and especially Colin Firth's role as George the VI-th. Even if the role of the british monarch tormented by his speaking problems is flawlessly done I don't think it's enough to get this movie out and apart from an entire row of UK made historical dramas produced during the last years. That's what I was telling in the previous directing blog entry also, because I think the ability of building the individuality of the movie lies pretty much in the hands of the director. I agree that "The King's Speech" is better than other movies covering a history part, but not much more original than these. Conclusion: according to the general opinion, I also started to consider it among the Oscar favorites, but because of what I mentioned a few lines above I would place it on the 2nd position.

"127 Hours" is the movie that I consider to be the most complete from all the nominations, and because of this also the most entitled to get the Oscar here. Thing that won't happen considering the outsider status besides larger production value titles having also a more powerful marketing behind them. Besides this, it didn't get even the directing nomination. I think I've already told it somewhere on my blog that I am not very attracted by real case based movies. This was an exception. Maybe the story of a guy blocked for 127 hours under a rock sounds somehow .. catchy .. I don't know, but what I can tell is that the movie worth seeing for much more reasons than the story. You have directing, you have the visuals, you have the editing, you have the score, you have only one actor but he's enough to not feel the need for more. I think I wrote enough about these in the movie entry around a month ago - here. Looking at the entire nomination list, if you would make me choose the best made title in three seconds I'll probably go for "Inception". But if I take them all and compare on every level related to a movie production, disregarding any subjective preferences, I'm pretty convinced that the average grade will be in the favor of "127 Hours". Well .. to end here .. and talking about movie production, considering the originality of the cinematography in this movie (and the lack of nomination for this ...) I said myself that would be nice to point it out with the next clip:

"The Social Network" is my option for placing a bet on the winner for Best Picture. It is the most appreciated by critics from what we have this year, and enough liked by the public and the movie industry. For me it was interesting from the "documentaristic" point of view, giving some insight about the "Facebook" beginnings (don't know how authentic though ..). As a feature film it was .. so & so. It has some good points, but I didn't find anything to be extraordinary (maybe the score, which is different from what you usually hear). The problem is that the story, for me at least, doesn't have any power to impress, to make you actually feel something. There are just some facts put on screen. And I think that everybody working on the movie from the director to the sound editing department, made their best to compensate that. Otherwise you'll probably have as final result something as slow paced as "The King's Speech" and without the "feeling factor". But the final result is not like that. After you've finished watching "The Social Network", thinking back and considering strictly the movie subject you might have the impression that you have watched a slow paced production, but that's not what you feel while you are watching. That's the point, as I see it, where this movie gains the most in overall level. But I don't think it's enough to make it the best picture. Anyway, I think this will be the case at this year Oscars.

"Toy Story 3" .. I totally get the marketing idea to extend the best picture nomination list from 5 to 10, but I don't get why do we have animations nominated here. There is a category for best animation, as there is a category for best foreign language film and one for best documentary. The best picture should be dissociated considering the nominees from these, and it is, except for the animation one. I don't have anything against giving the prize for best picture of the year to an animation - even more I think that the animation level in the last years went high enough that more should be nominated as best picture, but not also keeping in this case a separate category for best animation. Difficult question: if we have "Toy Story 3" nominated for best picture, guess who will win for best animation ? I would really like to be wrong... That's the reason for my so called boycott this year against the best animation category by not writing about it. Well .. I also didn't see the third title nominated. But the other one, "How to Train Your Dragon" for me is way better than "Toy Story 3". And the fact that "Toy Story 3" got a nomination for best movie is like considering it at least one class above the rest animations. Why doing this ? Especially considering that is pretty obvious it won't get the Oscar for best picture. "Toy Story 3" is a good movie but below "Up" and "Wall-E" from what Pixar has produced before. What actually gave it a push at the level it's considered is the marketing, the fact that is a sequel for a success series, and that it's written Pixar on it. What annoys me the most in all the reviews that praise "Toy Story 3" is that is said it's "deep" and much more "adult oriented" than the DreamWorks production. For God sake ... if an adult needs a movie who is one step close from including a "boo-hoo-hoo" in the background sound for the teardropping moments as it's in sitcoms for laughters to consider it deep .. I'll stick to the target focus of DreamWorks whatever that might be. "How to Train Your Dragon" is a movie that has "something" behind all the humor and the sarcasm it shows but without giving that "something" on a plate to be served by the viewer in the way Pixar does it all the time. You have to remove yourself the curtain to look through the window, not being actually pulled through it directly as it's in the other case. For me that's the meaning of "deep" (I tend to think that people reviewing "Toy Story 3" forgot even the dictionary definition of the word). Well, what I've written probably sounds very anti-"Toy Story 3", and I really don't want to be like that because as I said "Toy Story 3" is a good movie, and for the technical aspects for instance Pixar still rules. My problem is less with "Toy Story 3" than with the critics for "Toy Story 3". And with this "end of story" here ...

"True Grit" probably is as Oscar winning chances pretty close to "Black Swan", so also somewhere on the 3rd spot in a favorites top. I've written more in January about the movie - here, and the current blog entry really got long enough to repeat myself with all I said there. In a few words, the movie is a western that follows the story of a girl hiring a federal marshal to avenge her killed father. It's a movie that I think would appeal to almost everybody contrary to how it sounds or maybe even on how the trailer looks. That's why I don't see it as a typical western, although many are saying it's quite old school in this genre. I don't agree with that. The script has enough witty lines, and the visuals and the score are delightfully composed (although the last one didn't get a nomination). It's enough to give the movie a note of originality. It has 10 Oscar nominations, including directing and editing, and this might actually place it in the position of a potential surprise for the evening, although nobody expects that. I won't mind being wrong with my prediction and seeing "True Grit" win instead of "The Social Network", even though I'm more supportive for "Inception" and "127 Hours" ( "The King's Speech" is the one which I'll really dislike ruining my predictions :) ).

"Winter's Bone" .. I started with one of the two movies nominated that are above the rest in the level of intensity transmitted to the viewer and I finish with the second one. Unlike "Black Swan" which might frighten you with the base idea it's built upon, here you have pure tension that is continuously raised until the end. The subject it's placed around a girl looking for her missing father to get him back to the police in order not to lose her house placed as a bail. The pure tension mainly relates with the fact that the way the story unfolds you'll start to think that in the next five minutes of the movie the girl will be "missing" too. I wrote more about the film in parallel with "True Grit" (the link is above). "Winter's Bone" is an indie movie = low budget, but for what it has to tell you is more than enough, showing that you don't really need as much money as "Avatar" costs to be able to make a good picture ( actually much better than "Avatar" here, although I don't think it's the best comparison :) ). And to end this overlong entry I will just say more that despite the tension of the movie, and unlike "Black Swan" this one I would like to see again some time, because even if it's really grim, the end has something optimistic in it close to a warm feeling that matters quite much for the whole story.

I think this is the record for a long entry :D (actually written from pieces during two days, a first even for me :-p). I pretty much doubt that somebody will get to this line :)) unless he/she starts reading from the end to beginning, so I don't know why I'm still pressing the keys on my laptop :). Well ... Thanks to the winter vacation and to the lack of flexibility of the Academy that pretty much shuffled the 10 nominations for best picture also to the rest of the categories, I somehow managed to pull off a decent Oscar coverage in terms of number of posts this year (in terms of quality :) ... I'm sure it can be done much better). Anyway, starting with next week, I'll be back to the usually one entry/week rate and with a good movie I hope :).

Oscar 2011 - Directing

I think that would be better to get directly to the first nomination than rambling the usual intro nonsense for the entry. Because it's an excellent example of what good directing means - Darren Aronofsky - "Black Swan". This movie can be resumed in three words - "symphony of madness" - and to complete the analogy the composer of the tune is the director. From my point of view is definitely the best of the directing nominations. Unfortunately it's not also the most appreciated, and probably will remain only with the nomination status. It doesn't make sense for me to write much more from my own opinions about it. The next clip is probably saying these better:

The second nomination here is David O. Russell for "The Fighter". Is one of the two from this year where I didn't know anything about the director. And it doesn't surprise me because when taking a look on IMDb I couldn't find more than other four feature films directed and those seem pretty obscure (I've seen only "Three Kings" from them, and this has actually the highest rating .. although is far from a masterpiece). The directing in "The Fighter" is ok, I've said it already when I wrote more about the movie. If it weren't for the directing you'll probably get bored considering how many times was this kind of subject used in a movie. Anyway, this doesn't separate too much the directing style you see here from the other stuff you can find in the genre. And I tend to think that the Oscar will be given to something more original.

The second director about who I haven't heard is Tom Hooper, nominated for "The King's Speech". As in the above case, I've seen enough british historical dramas and if you take this movie and place it along them, I don't know if you can make a difference for the directing part. It's ok ... as in "The Fighter" I can also say sufficiently ok for not letting you fall asleep considering the lack of action in the movie ... but it's too ... common (just check "The Young Victoria", "The Duchess", even "Atonement" which is set in the same time period). The movie level is raised by Colin Firth's performance and by the editing (video + audio) mostly, and less by the directing ...

David Fincher will probably take the Oscar for "The Social Network". Unfortunately for his filmography it will happen here ... unfortunately = because it's not his best movie, and to add more he didn't even got a nomination for his best movie at that time - this being "Fight Club". Actually I have an entire list of Fincher's movies that I like better than "The Social Network": "The Game", "Panic Room", even "Alien 3" (with all the things said about it I say it has its own "air" so to speak that separates it from the rest, and not in a bad sense). But .. all these are from different genres, and none is based on a real story, so probably comparing it's not the right thing to do. For a real story adaptation I can't say that the directing isn't good. I might even say that it is very good considering that the final result is less slow paced than Fincher's first Oscar nomination which was for "Benjamin Button" (movie that for me definitely had a sleeping pill effect). And I didn't expect that considering the real basis. However, I'll stick to "Black Swan" as personal preference and I'd like to see a surprise there...

The last nomination on the directors list has two names written on it: Joel & Ethan Coen, for "True Grit". Although I liked the movie quite a lot, I must admit that for directing is not their best title (well, it's definitely much better than "No Country for Old Men" and they got an Oscar for that one). This doesn't mean that the directing is not good, because the way all the story is carried until the end differentiates it from what you can usually see in a western. It has enough originality in it. But ... this is helped by lots of factors, and I admit that these can be influenced by the directing, but it seems that unlike "Black Swan" for instance, you have much more from the individual style of the cinematographer, from the production designer, from the actors, etc.

One more category left & I'm done with the (probably boring) Oscar entries. Guess which one :)

Oscar 2011 - Adapted Screenplay

I was thinking to jump completely over this section. Usually I'm not very accurate with the predictions here (but this year is easy :-p). The reason for that it's quite simple. I don't read the scripts because I don't have enough time (by the way, generally these are surprisingly short ... but even so ..). And from the script to the final screen version there is a (sometimes long) way, and things are lost along it. Even if the main impression is given by the aspect of the story you see on screen, what matters for the script is also what's on paper and how much does add the directing to that. This year I managed to take a quick look on the written material last weekend = not more than one page from every screenplay, so I'm gonna take my chances and try writing a few lines :) It will be probably the most boring entry because considering the "literature oriented" topic I chose to give script quotes instead of clips today :-p ...

"127 Hours" - is the script that's probably the most descriptive of all. And I also think that it's the most original from the adaptations although I didn't read the book that tells the guy's story. However I really doubt that's composed more than 50% from describing what you should see in front of your eyes. And I'm telling it again ... it's enough variation for 127 hours about a guy being stuck under a rock to be watchable enough. And due to that, I prefer this title among the rest although I have to admit that's probably not the best script.

INT. CANYON. C/U BOTTLE NECK
The bottle neck stares at Aron.

INT. CANYON. C/U ARON.
Aron’s eyes stare at the bottle neck.

INT. CANYON. NIGHT.
Aron shakes the bottle. Water splashes inside. Not much water. Puts the bottle back down. Moves to pop a contact lens out of his eye and into his mouth.

INT. ROPE BAG. PRE-DAWN.
In big close-up, an ant crawls across Aron’s face. His muscles twitch in response.

INT. ROPE BAG. PRE-DAWN.
Aron’s eyes, open a slit. That’s as much asleep as he gets. Targets some puffs of breath at the ant. Doesn’t work. Flicks the ant away with a finger. Eyes close again.

"The Social Network" - at least at this category is probably one of the safest Oscar bets. I would really like to see a surprise although it's hard to believe it will be so. It's the longest and most dialogue rich script among all. I have no idea how much does matter the quantity, but it seems it does considering the amount of awards received so far. I have to be fair and say that it is a good script, but as a story (with the title above counting as one of the few exception) I never was very impressed by the movies with real basis. Anyway, I don't think that for the origins of Facebook you can get something much better than we have here. It's dense and has enough tension to get close to a thriller feeling at some points, and for the spoken lines it's probably the best this year at the same level with one title below.

ERICA
I have to go study.

MARK
You don't have to study.

ERICA
How do you know I don't have to study?!

MARK
Because you go to B.U.!

Erica stares at him...

MARK (CONT'D)
(beat)
Do you want to get some food?

ERICA
I'm sorry you're not sufficiently impressed with my education.

MARK
And I'm sorry I don't have a rowboat.

ERICA
I think we should just be friends.

MARK
I don't need friends.

ERICA
I was being polite, I had no intention of being friends with you.

"Toy Story 3" - I have no idea what's with this movie that deserves to be here. I'll continue my small boycott and I won't comment too much. It won't take the Oscar - that's the essential part. The script is ok on the comic side for an animation, although there were better titles for this, and for the drama side is the tearlake direction - trademark Pixar. As a sample I prefer the first side:

Rex sticks a finger in Buzz’s re-set hole.

WOODY
Okay, now what?

HAMM
All right, let’s see... “Caution: Do not hold button for more than five
seconds.”

Abruptly, Buzz BEEPS loudly, falls limp, face plants. The others all look at Rex. Rex lifts his finger.

REX
It’s not my fault!

Suddenly, Buzz leaps up, knocking the Toys off him. He strides forward, flips his wrist radio.

SPANISH BUZZ
Bitácora Espacial -- Me he despertado de hipersueno en un planeta extrano.
(Star Log -- I’ve awakened from hypersleep on a strange planet.)

The Toys are speechless. Hamm glares at Rex.

"True Grit" - it's as good if not even better than "The Social Network" for the witty lines. Thing that's actually specific for Coen Brothers. The problem is that doesn't have so much dialogue, and for the descriptive parts it's not the most complex scenario, at least from a quick look on it + what you see on the screen + what you get from make-of clips. It seems that the directing had more to do with the final result than the script, changing here & there what didn't look right enough when shooting the movie. Besides that it's a script that after all tells a wild west revenge story, which was already adapted one time, and even if they say that's an original view on the book I really doubt that the first script written didn't count at all. The idea is that for a good screenwriter I think to be much easier to get something of good quality based on an already done movie that got a bit lost in time (just look at Tarantino with "Inglorious Basterds").

MR. GOUDY
Thank you, Mr. Barlow. In your four years as U.S. marshal, Mr. Cogburn, how many men have you shot?

MR. BARLOW
Objection.

MR. GOUDY
There is more to this shooting than meets the eye, Judge Parker. I will establish the bias of this witness.

JUDGE
Objection is overruled.

MR. GOUDY
How many, Mr. Cogburn?

COGBURN
I never shot nobody I didn’t have to.

MR. GOUDY
That was not the question. How many?

COGBURN
. . . Shot or killed?

MR. GOUDY
Let us restrict it to “killed” so that we may have a manageable figure.

"Winter's Bone" - it's probably the most balanced script as quality = it's quite good at the descriptive level and pretty much the same for the dialogues. From my point of view it is the best script from the ones here, although I'm for "127 Hours" :). Unfortunately the movie is too much of an outsider in front of "The Social Network". I didn't see for a long time something so well done considering the tension level, although for this the directing has also a big part. But if you take a look on the script you can see clear enough in what detail is a scene described and that the script's feeling it's what it gets finally on the screen also. On the other hand, the director - Debra Granik - is also the screenwriter in this case :) so, she didn't do anything else than to prepare a detailed plan for the next step.

Baskin and Ree register Teardrop’s accusation. Baskin, apprehensive, makes eye contact with Ree and draws his pistol from the holster. Attempting to regain control, he taps the side of the truck with his gun.

SHERIFF BASKIN
I know you. I know your family. Get out of the car now.

Teardrop raises his rifle and rests it on the open window, staring Baskin down in the side mirror. Baskin shifts uneasily, again looking to Ree.

TEARDROP
Is this gonna be our time?

Teardrop and Baskin hold each other’s eyes in the mirror as Baskin slowly backs away, still brandishing his flashlight.

One more step until best movie - next time: directing

Oscar 2011 - Film Editing

Like I said last time this one is the aspect that might save or bury a film's cinematography, and with it most of the final visual aspect of the entire production. If the cinematography gives the movie the visual feeling = warm, cold, open, closed, etc, the editing is the the technical category which gives probably the most of the general feeling of the movie. And yes, in this is comprised also the sound mixing for aranging the final audio track, but usually the film editing is considered more important at the Oscars. As far as I know statistically speaking I think it's the one which is the most often associated with the best picture (having the same winner). I don't think it will happen this year though. Anyway, I find really hard to predict the winner here. Let's see which are the movies that got nominated ...

"Black Swan" - I believe this is the movie that will get the prize. Excellent editing, which enhances a lot the sense of tension, the dark atmosphere and completes it to give the image of dementia put on screen. Generally it's useless too comment the editing to much - the main aspect to follow is how it's built the scene from the individual shots, the way these follow one another and the length/for how much time. I didn't manage to find a better clip than the next one to show these, but it's suggestive enough about the movie look & feel.

"The Fighter" - it's the movie that I consider to be on the bottom of the grid here. The editing is ok, but it doesn't have anything special besides the boxing scenes. And that's the type of scene which has in itself more power to enhance the editing appearance than the editing does for the scene. Anyway .. I'm not an expert :). Unfortunately the most appropriate clip I found it's "embedding disabled", so sorry again for the extra click (it seems I didn't manage to get rid of this even without any "Inception" today :) ):

"The King's Speech" - I've already said it last time, here the editing helps a lot the cinematography. Below is the final scene of the movie (I don't know for how long it will last on YouTube), scene that I think it's one of the best in the entire film - also for the cinematography (which reaches a peek here), but I kept it for editing :) because I believe that it's more representative for the movie. Anyway, if above I was saying something about scenes that give a push to the editing, to say it so = have enough context to get something interesting from them, "The King's Speech" as a whole movie it's entirely the opposite to that. The story is calm, slow paced, without much action and that's not helping in this category, so even if it's ok the editing is under a certain threshold compared to other movies nominated here.

"127 Hours" - from my point of view has the best editing, but unfortunately this year is a bit of an outsider at the Oscars. I would really like to be wrong with the prediction here and to see it getting the award. I already wrote in the blog entry about the movie and I will say it again: for me it seems awfully challenging to try making a 90 minutes movie having as main scene a guy stuck under a boulder, and one of the key factors in managing to getting it done it's definitely the editing. Well .. the reason for "127 Hours" it's not really expected to win here is besides that there are more popular movies in competition, the fact that the editing (unlike "The King's Speech") is helped pretty much by the cinematography (which didn't receive an Oscar nomination, but it had it's share at BAFTA and in other places) = I'm pretty sure that the editor had quite a lot of choice to pick from the shots taken given the variety we see in the movie. Even so, I'll stick to the opinion that it's superior to the other titles.

"The Social Network" - it's probably the second on the favorites list (although many are saying it's the first and it already got the BAFTA for editing). As I mentioned, it's a hard to predict category because as I see it there are pretty 50/50 split chances among this one and "Black Swan" and I have some hope that I'll see a surprise from "127 Hours" :). The reason I'm placing this a little bit after "Black Swan" as chances is for one part related with the actual quality - even though it's an excellent editing that completes some lacks on the cinematography (which again I don't even know how come it got nominated) it still seems it's not really at the same level with the work in "Black Swan". On the second part, if the Academy wants to give another Oscar to "Black Swan" besides the one which is the most sure to bet on in the Awards night (for leading actress of course), I think they will have editing as the first choice. But, going back to "The Social Network" one of the nice parts is that despite having again a pretty much actionless movie, the editing manages to speed up the pace:

First entry next week - adapted script ;)

Oscar 2011 - Cinematography

Unlike last time, I really like writing about cinematography. It's obviously the aspect that gives the most to the visual feeling of a movie (well, sometimes helped ot buried by the editing, but about that next time). So, let me go quickly into the subject :) until I'm not getting again too long ( and out of the subject :) ) in the intro..

Matthew Libatique for "Black Swan" - is the cinematographer who worked at most of the movies directed by Aronofsky (except "The Wrestler"). I think his best remains "The Fountain", but "Black Swan" is not too far. It's the story of a ballerina driven by her obsession for a role up to a thin edge somewhere between psychosis and schizophrenia. The image composition in the movie helps a lot in creating an atmosphere that is a mix between tension and pure madness increasing in intensity as the film gets near its end. Remember "Shining" by Kubrick ? Maybe, it's better to give it as example for the effect of the cinematography in there as a comparison instead rambling general nonsense from my head :) Getting a bit more technical, the image in "Black Swan" is cold, in dark tones, narrow framing (I don't think you have more than 10 minutes in the entire movie in which the visual field covers more than 4-5 square meteres maximum), the camera is usually close to the character, sometimes even pretty "bound" enough scenes being filmed in one shot (one sample below). However, with all these helping a lot to getting the feeling I was telling about, I see "Black Swan" somewhere in the middle of this years nominees. I've said it before :) it was quite a good year for movies ...

The second nominee and one of the main two favorites is Wally Pfister for "Inception". Here also, as in many cases, we have a pair, the mentioned one being the cinematographer preferred by Nolan. Actually, since "Batman Begins", meaning also "The Prestige" and "The Dark Knight" Pfister got every time a nominee for cinematography. No Oscar yet. I personally like his work, but in every movie I have the feeling that something is missing somewhere ... There are some scenes that should be more "warm" instead of looking to cold and dry as they do, generally speaking, not only in "Inception". Actually "Inception" and "The Prestige" suffer less of this problem. I'd say even more, that "The Prestige" has some advantage in the visual aspect of the final result being quite close to perfect, but this taking into consideration that the movie has much lower visual requirements than "Inception" (less location settings, very consistent support from art direction - I can't forget the hats scene :), etc). To cut it shorter, Pfister has pretty big chances this year to get the Oscar for "Inception", but I think he'll wait one more time :) unfortunately .. because something tells me that we won't see anything better as long as he keeps his current style. In "Inception" I think he gave the maximum he can for this type of production (like I said "The Prestige" falls in a different category). At least he is much better here than he was in "The Dark Knight". And that actually counts even for scenes that apparently don't require much like the next one - love the slow motion in the end :) - that's cinematography, not VFX like the water flood by the way (with appologies for one additional click, but unfortunately 99% of what's on YouTube from "Inception" has "embedding disabled by request"):

Danny Cohen for "The King's Speech" - I don't have any clue who this guy is. I think even the BAFTA doesn't :), where this movie was in its own "kingdom" to say so = grabbing any deserved and not really deserved award, but I prefer not to talk more about it ( was expected to be so in UK :) ). Even so, like I said it didn't get the award for best cinematography. I actually find a bit strange the nominee at this category, considering that last year were movies much more deserving like "Shutter Island" or "Ghost Writer". Anyway, this is not the only case here ... We have one more a bit below, which I think it's even worse. Going back to the topic, and trying to be fair, there are some scenes in "King's Speech" well done visually - the walk in the park, or the traveling in the final scene where the camera follows the main character, and even some frames from the therapy sessions. Anyway, in all of these, I think the editing helps a lot. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything from the mentioned ones so I don't have something better to give as sample besides the wine cellar scene. This one is .. well .. pretty normal :), ok with respect to the shadow composition = the image is well balanced regarding the lighting, but that's pretty much of it I think ..

Jeff Cronenweth for "The Social Network" - from my point of view it definitely shouldn't be here. He is the cinematographer who did "Fight Club", and didn't work with Fincher afterward until now. I really believe that the cinematography in "Fight Club" is better than here although I don't remember being impressed by this part there also. What worth mentioning about "The Social Network" with respect to the final look is the editing, but like I said I'll discuss this next time. I don't even know what else to say. If on the above one I did have some examples to give .. here I don't. If this movie gets the Oscar for cinematography, I really think that next year I'll seriously consider not writing anymore about this category, because in that case it would mean that I'm probably waaaaay off the line with my appreciations ( not just way :) ). The only scene that I can mention (although again .. the editing ...) is the one with the boat race:

Roger Deakins for "True Grit" - reached to the ninth Oscar nomination without getting any until now. I didn't see two of his previous works in this list ("Kundun" and "The Man Who Wasn't There") but from the rest, I definitely believe without any discussion that this one is his best movie. Many people consider this guy one of the best cinematographers of the moment, and after seeing "True Grit" I'm also starting to believe it finally :). Also many people consider that he should have won the Oscar for "No Country for Old Men". I totally disagree on this, the cinematography from "There Will Be Blood" was way superior and deserved its award. Here, however it's something totally different, even if it's the same collaboration with the Coen brothers as directors, and even if we have pretty much the same kind of open settings as in "No Country for Old Men". The result it's clearly above. It is the best movie of the last year for cinematography and I don't think it will miss the Oscar. Probably I shouldn't say more, and just let the next clip roll.

Back next time - keyword: editing ;)

Oscar 2011 - Supporting Actors

Generally I don't like writing about actors because unlike other categories here I don't have much else than subjective appreciations. And that's a very good reason to be shorter today, especially given the hour when I'm writing and the lack of time :) This year I preferred talking about supporting actors because for the leading ones the things are pretty settled (and besides that, here I managed to see all the movies, in the other categories not). And because we have a series of common titles, I said myself that it will be less time consuming to group the nominees on movies. So, what we have here ...

"Animal Kingdom" has Jacki Weaver as nominee for supporting actress, in a role which is sort of like a modern Godfather version placed in the context of suburban Australian organized crime. More precisely she plays the mother of an entire gang who "adopts" also one orphan nephew. The movie itself is pretty harsh/grim as general feeling. I can't say also that is pretty good. It has plenty loose ends and some scenes which seem far from credible. And these among others confirms me once again a not very good opinion about the australian cinema (well .. there are exceptions, but not this one). I think that the casting is the best part of the movie, and the nominated role is excellent played. That good that this should be a pretty solid reason to watch the movie. I can't say much more without giving spoilers but there is a point where there is a total character transition from warm to a very scary cold attitude. For more details, see the movie :)

In "The Fighter" we have three nominees for supporting roles. Two for supporting actress - Amy Adams, the main character's girlfriend and Melissa Leo, the mother. One for supporting actor - Christian Bale, the brother, a former drug addicted boxer. The cast is excellent and I think it's the best in a last year's movie. I'm pretty sure that the both Oscars will land here. Although I like Amy Adams, for supporting actress I'm pretty sure that the award will be taken by Melissa Leo. She does a role that has some similarities with the one nominated in "Animal Kingdom", it's also about a mom who tries to offer some false affection and behind lies a pretty big dose of cynicism. And if for supporting actress there might be another nominee to be considered as favorite, for supporting actor I don't expect any surprise. I've already written in the blog entry about "The Fighter" that this is the best career role for Christian Bale. Probably this is not very visible in the next clip, but I didn't find another one to include all the three nominees ...

"The Kids Are All Right" it's a type of drama that wants to be a bit of a comedy (but it doesn't really work). The subject is placed around two kids of a lesbian pair meeting their father, former sperm donor. I'll write more about the movie when I'll reach the final Oscar entry for Best Picture ( .. yes, it has a nomination also there ). Here the nomination is for supporting actor - Mark Rufallo - the father. What can I say is that the movie, as the previous cases above and also like "The King's Speech" has as it's best point the cast... and that's pretty much all. However, I think that not even this part can reach the first half of potential Oscar winners from all the nominees.

"The King's Speech" has two nominations here - Helena Bonham Carter as king's George the VIth wife and Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue, the former actor employed for speaking lessons. If for supporting actress I think that's the weakest nomination, for the role of Geoffrey Rush is probably the most close to the one that will get the Oscar. Even so, the chances for a surprise here are very small. The winners for acting this year, excepting supporting actress are pretty clear already from my point of view.

"The Town" is the third movie this year (along with "Animal Kingdom" and "Winter's Bone") to have an action context placed around an outlaw "family" with scary and more scary than scary members. In "The Town" the part of the scariest bad guy is played by Jeremy Renner - the best friend of the main character (Ben Affleck) and also the most violent member of a Boston gang specialized in bank heists. The movie is pretty much at the same level with "Animal Kingdom" but it's ... american = here the bad guy seems to be a good guy after all - in the other one it's not, here the love story seems to last forever .. in the other one it abruptly ends (and I won't say more because I'm already close to give some spoilers), etc. Getting back to the nominee:

In "True Grit" the nominee for supporting actress is Hailee Steinfeld for the role of the girl who tries to avenge her father. It was a very pleasant surprise I might say, and she actually has some chances to the Oscar. Like I said I think it's the only category where the dices aren't yet rolled. However, I'm sticking to the opinion that both awards for supporting actors will go to "The Fighter". Well, for the moment a short clip from "True Grit" :) :

And I reached the last from the list - "Winter's Bone". I was saying above about a pleasant surprise. I got one here too. I had no idea who is John Hawkes prior to this movie. He plays the role of Teardrop here, the uncle of the girl who's searching her missing father. Again we have a role of a guy with a police record and apparently quite a grim & scary character, but unlike the nominees for supporting actress here the role has a transition from absolutely cold to a more fatherly attitude. And the actor manages this in a very well done manner.

That's all bout this category. I'll be back to areas where I'm a bit less "unauthorized" next time :) = cinematography

Oscar 2011 - Music - Score

As I said last time, I'm still staying on the audio area and I'll try today to go through the score nominations. And because my intros are usually too long & boring I'll just cut directly into the subject ...

John Powell got his first nomination this year, for "How to Train Your Dragon". This is during a career that started (for big screen) since '97 with "Face/Off". And I think that "Face/Off" still holds the top position in his CV. That movie, at least from my point of view, has one of the best scores I've ever heard in an action movie. Going back to "How to Train Your Dragon", it doesn't sound bad at all. One main thing to say is that we have here a score that matches very well the setting = viking world. In brief, it's a mix between some "epic" sound, northern influences, and classic animation music that usually has a more calm melodic line (but here it gets some speed-up). The result is excellent. However I think we will have another winner here. For me "How to Train Your Dragon" is among the top 5 animations I've ever seen, and I think in top 3 of the movies watched last year. It's the story of a young viking who is supposed to become a dragon hunter (or at least that's what he wants in the beginning). But I'm not telling more. This should be watched, not talked about it. The movie is probably the best DreamWorks ever produced, and for me was like a breath of (very) fresh air. I remember that I had a bad day when I've seen it, which lasted until seeing it :) I would really like for "How to Train Your Dragon" to get an Oscar this year, but in another category where it deserves it much more than here.

The first of the two big favorites at this category is Hans Zimmer for "Inception". I would like to see the Oscar going here (and it has pretty good chances) but I'm totally subjective on this one :). Unfortunately I cannot stop thinking at "Ubik" by P.K.Dick ( = book :) ) when I'm talking about "Inception". I'll try to detail more on that when I'll reach the best movie entry. In brief "Inception" has quite some P.K.D. elements in it. And for the current topic, the idea is that I find the score in "Inception" to be very appropriate to accompany a P.K. Dick book (even if it's not actually the case here). I could actually recommend something. If somebody would ever like to read a book by the aforementioned (very good SF by the way & I think what I'm suggesting here fits more than just "Ubik"), just try read it with the "Inception" soundtrack as background. The only problem would probably be to match the more slow or more alert tracks with the book's paragraphs :) I don't think I can completely describe what I want to tell, but if somebody tries will get it :). About the movie, it's probably the score that gives the most of the entire feeling, compared to the other nominations. But again, that's the point of view of a declared fan for this SF niche :). However, I should mention that there are some tracks here which are true gems talking about composition. And it's not the first time when I hear something like this from Hans Zimmer. I gave the final track in a clip below as example. If you listen carefully you can notice that you might be able to split it in a series of distinct unrelated tracks which are overlapped in the final one having different entry points. Each one of these has a pretty much looping melodic line and varies mostly on the tonality. The whole catch is how these are combined as volume gain & loss into the final one. I think that the result is extraordinary, given the fact that the technique doesn't seem very complicated ( but .. I'm far from being an expert :) ). The same thing you can hear in the DaVinci Code theme also by Zimmer - "Chevaliers de Sangreal" - and actually there it's more obvious than here, because there are only 3 or 4 tracks which seem to be overlapped (and in case it's not yet very clear what I'm rambling about you can just listen "The Bell" by Mike Oldfield - it's like a small tutorial for this type of composition). Ok, to much talking, better :) : ...

I think that Alexandre Desplat for "The King's Speech" is the weakest nominee in this category. And it's actually quite far from the other four, although I can't say that it doesn't fit the movie = keep a relatively calm line, not very spectacular, music that shouldn't get in front to much so to speak. What I think that's pretty weird is that Desplat (who I started to like since some time although he alternates good with not so good scores) had a much better score last year in "The Ghost Writer". And actually, if I remember well got nominated for some awards for his composition there. Well, I don't now what else to say. The music:

A.R. Rahman returns with "127 Hours" after the success had with "Slumdog Millionaire". We don't have a soundtrack as good as two years ago - when it was close to exceptional, but it's good. I already said it in the blog entry about the movie not very long ago. It gives pretty much to the entire feeling, especially on the alert/high tension parts. I think it's a pity that from what I can see no director except Danny Boyle works with this guy. The rest of his CV is full of Bollywood movies. Well, if after "Slumdog Millionaire" wasn't obvious enough that he can leave the typical Bollywoodian rhythms (or better said "rhythms") apart from what's composing, maybe this time is pretty clear. I'd really would like to hear his score in some other movies.

And we reached the final nominee here - Trent Reznor (aka Nine Inch Nails) & Atticus Ross for "The Social Network". I didn't hear about Atticus Ross until now, but what's interesting is that Trent Reznor is at his first movie. He did film music and also for video games before, but at least based on what's written on IMDb he doesn't have any other normal length feature film as main composer before. Despite all these, I think that "The Social Network" has the best chances this year for an Oscar - about 50.1% vs. 49.9% for "Inception" :) ( although personally I hope this gets reversed until the Awards :) ). However, being as objective as I can, I think that I would also give the Oscar here. Zimmer is good in "Inception", and the soundtrack for me at least gives more feeling to the movie than the one in "The Social Network". But this happens also due to the final mix - check my previous blog entry. More exactly the sound mixing in "Inception" emphasizes the soundtrack and the one in "The Social Network" does exactly the opposite - tries to put a limit to it to hold it a bit more discreet. Actually, if you listen to "The Social Network" soundtrack separately from the movie closely after you've watched it, you might have the surprise of not remembering all of the tracks from when you've seen the film (although those were there). Even so it manages to give quite an atmosphere to the movie. It's a soundtrack that it's worked mainly on synthesizer, stuff that it's not any more really mainstream/often done since quite a while. I might actually say that it's the best synthesizer/electronic processed music based soundtrack I've heard since Brad Fiedel (although of course there are different styles). As a parenthesis, for who doesn't know who Brad Fiedel is (unfortunately retired now), it's the composer who worked with James Cameron (when Cameron was doing less ... "blue" movies) = "Terminator" 1 & 2, "True Lies", "The Serpent and the Rainbow", "Fright Night", etc (the last two are not related with Cameron but are important as a reference for Brad Fiedel's scores). Well, going back to "The Social Network" ...

I'm wrapping up for today mentioning that I have no idea for how long the links above will last on YouTube (copyright issues of course) - for the moment are working. Next time I think I'll try to write a few words about supporting actors ...

Oscar 2011 - Sound Categories

Up to last year I was very proud with myself 'cause since I don't know how long ago I was able to predict the winners for at least one of the two sound categories - sound editing & sound mixing (especially since not many people know even the difference between these two). Well .. as I said, up to last year .. when I somehow managed to miss them both. So, this time I'll try to add some more professional description besides my own "unauthorized" thoughts. And this is thanks to a small group of people who have a site dedicated exclusively to the sound design in movies - SoundWorks Collection, and also have produced a series of "behind the scenes" clips on the topic.

But before getting on to the nominations I'll detail a bit about the two - editing & mixing. Sound Editing refers mainly to sound effects. More exactly the recording and processing or finding and getting the right samples from external sources for the film parts which lack the necessary sound (because usually the live recording during the film shooting is not enough). Sound Mixing implies getting the final mix track, meaning the assembling of the live recorded material, the sound editing extra output and the score in a single piece which is the final form you hear. Usually there is a lot of interaction between the two .. "departments" (and sometimes is only one) and therefore you can find movies nominated at both categories quite often. Let's check the situation for this year ...

"Inception" has nominations on both of the categories. For Sound Editing it's pretty hard to try a guess this year for the winner. In case of "Inception" we have various effects added, starting with the producing source diversity up to the sound propagation/reverb in various locations, and even .. "time flow" (so to speak) leaves some marks on the sound. If it would be to go along the common general impression I might say that this is the favorite title for Sound Editing (and probably it actually is), but for me there is another title which .. sounds better :). However on Sound Mixing it's simpler. I'm pretty sure that "Inception" will get the Oscar for this category and it's deserved in case it happens. It might have one serious rival on Sound Mixing, but the final mix track in "Inception" is among the best I've heard during the last years (not at the same level with "Slumdog Millionaire" but quite close). It's built in such a way to sense that the score is there (and the score gives a lot of the general feeling on this movie), to hit you at the right time with effects to keep the tension up, and also manages to emphasize on the voice where this is needed (well, what I'm rambling about here is actually what every final mix track is supposed to do :) but this one actually gets it quite nicely). I'll better leave it to the next clip for more details ( sorry, this one seems it doesn't allow embedding, but from what I've found available is for sure the most detailed regarding the sound here .. so probably it worth an extra click :) ):

"The King's Speech" has one nomination on the Sound Mixing part, and this is the movie which I think it's the closest to "Inception" (but still the 2nd). At a first look, it doesn't seem to be something very noticeable here, but it is a movie which as part of the main idea relies quite much in getting a view on the speaking problems of king George VI. Colin Firth actually does a pretty good job on the stammering part, so I don't think to much editing was required for that. But to get something in the final that is supposed to get well by the viewers ear, that's a whole different matter. And because of this, I personally think that technically speaking the final mix track is the best part of this movie. Even so, it probably won't get over "Inception". Unfortunately I didn't find any clip from SoundWorks to give more details here, but I went by something quite interesting. However it requires distributed hearing :) and it's also quite a big spoiler. It's a comparison between the final speech in the movie and the real one - this is one more criteria which brings some points here = the effort to obtain a close replica to the original (the clip version is the actual track with the score and volume switches according to the filming camera place):

I was planning to write an entry about "Salt" (on my Ro blog version) last summer when I've seen it .. but that was actually before watching the movie = I had it planned as the possible weekly topic. In the end I didn't write the entry and I looked for another subject. The reason is that from my point of view this movie is the worst from the entire filmography of Phillip Noyce ("The Quiet American", "The Bone Collector", "Clear and Present Danger", "Patriot Games", "The Saint", etc). At the middle of the movie I actually figured out the final, besides the part that the final isn't actually the final and leaves enough room for another final. Oh well .. more details on the subject in the next clip. It has a certain Cold War spy thriller air, as some older movies had, but it's far from the best titles in this area. Getting back to the Sound Mixing, where it has a nomination, I can't say I see(well .. hear) anything out of common about this title. It's a movie with lots of action and the final mix demands quite some work indeed, but it's not different from the usual case on this genre.

"The Social Network" has a nomination for Sound Mixing, probably as unexpected as "The King's Speech". The difference is that (at least for my ear) the final mix in the Facebook story doesn't sound as convincing as it's British rival. Yes, we have plenty of dialogue, we have several scenes with noisy background, but the result is not extraordinary at all. Besides this, the final mix gains a lot from the score quality here (about which I'll talk more next time) and this doesn't actually count for mixing. On top of all as it's said at some point in the next clip, the sound may actually lose itself at some moments - it's not noticeable anymore (and inherently brings down the score), and I'm not a very big fan of such results .. although it might be a matter of taste.

"Tron: Legacy" is an interesting nomination for Sound Editing, especially considering it didn't get one for VFX. It seems the audio ones were more appreciated. And I can say that it seems quite good here. We have the robotized voices part + a lot of pre-recordings processed for all the kind of effect from vehicles to explosions, etc + ADR Automated Dialog Replacement as mentioned in the next clip = this works as a dubbing/re-recording after shooting the movie on top of the original voice. In this case also the score makes the final track to gain a lot, and I sincerely regret not seeing Daft Punk nominated there. However, the category we talk about here is not Sound Mixing, so the fact the score adds to the impression for the final mix doesn't cut from the Sound Editing value. Maybe I'm a bit subjective, considering I liked the movie (well, forgetting for a while all about my IT background). Anyway, as I've said in the start this year the competition seems to be pretty fierce on Sound Editing, and Tron probably falls somewhere on a middle placement in a potential top.

"Toy Story 3" has a nominee for Sound Editing. "Toy Story 3" is the reason for I'm running a small boycott this year - I'm not going to write about Best Animation. So more (or less..) on the "Toy Story 3" subject on another occasion. Strictly speaking about sound effects, I've always had the opinion that animations are on a totally different class from feature films. Because the percent of the final sound which comes from the sound editing activity is overwhelming. You don't have any live recording here as you have when you shoot a normal scene in a movie. But, anyway, as I said this year I have a small problem with "Toy Story 3" :) and I'm not going to praise it more than it's the case. And if you think at the Oscars given two years ago, when "Wall-E" didn't get it here (which for me was one of the biggest Oscar surprises ever) I don't see how TS3 will grab it now ...

I don't have much to say about "True Grit". It has nominations on both the categories, but I really doubt it has any chances on any of them. For Editing we have the usual western effects ranging from gun shots to horse galloping. A short sequence can be seen/heard in the clip below (unfortunately here also I didn't find any extended entry from SoundWorks). All around it's ok, but that's pretty much of it. As a final track mix it sounds quite nice but again we have the same problem as in "The Social Network". I really think it gains a lot on the impression from the score (which didn't even get nominated), and not from integrating the score but actually from the music.

And I finally got to the last title on this long list - "Unstoppable". It seems that Tony Scott (who IMHO currently is one of the best action movie directors) after pretty much flopped with the "Pelham 123" remake, changed the line but not to far - from the underground to the surface. Another film, other trains, the same Denzel. I never was very attracted by "catastrophe" movies (= volcano eruptions, tunnel explosions, world's end next year, etc). And also not very attracted by movies based on real facts. Well, this one is both = we have the story of a loose speeding train carrying some very unhealthy substances. As a surprise (for me at least) it was quite watchable, even with the whole specific chessy lines present. In two words: adrenaline rush ! (think on "Speed" on rails .. well without any bad guy in command). And one of the things which adds a lot to this sensation I think it's the sound editing. You don't have a lot of variation on the effects range. Pretty much all is train related - wheels, sirens, etc. But these are very well processed = obviously the work is not limited only to live recordings. I would personally give the Oscar here for Sound Editing, but "Inception" is quite strong on this area. So we'll see...

Next time - the soundtrack section ...

Oscar 2011 - Art Direction

I'm not really in the mood for writing ... It seems I have to deal with some older liver issues these days (no, it's not excess vodka) and I probably should be sleeping at this hour (in case it's not obvious this intro should work also as a disclaimer on this entry's quality :-p). But, I pretty much made the plan on how many nomination categories I can cover this year. Somehow either I did succeed in watching too many movies during the winter holidays or the Academy wasn't flexible enough in choosing the titles, and it seems that if I really want to stick to the plan I should at least have two entries/week. Let's see if I can manage ...

So, if last time I suppose that VFX was quite clear in what it means, on Art Direction I should probably say a few more general words. Art Direction = Production Design + Set Decoration - it's a 2 in 1 category. Production Design refers to the general visual aspect of the movie and covers pretty much all starting from the location settings to the paper drawn concept art about a scene. As far as I know, and I hope I'm at least a bit right, the production designer works as a "link" between the director, or more exactly the director's vision and what I mentioned above. Meaning applying it in practice and also coordinating other departments for doing so, like vfx, costumes, etc. The idea is to obtain a consistent look & feel for the movie and not to get into situations where the vfx crew dreamed green aliens and the director wants blue ones. The Set Decoration relates with effectively constructing the scenery for the filming location = decoration, props, etc and is of course in tight relation with the Production Design. Ok, I think it's enough as a quick description ( and I don't know what else to write :) ) so let's get to the nominations ...

"Alice in Wonderland" - if last time I said that on VFX is ok, on the art direction for my taste at least it's not. It looks excessively colored for me and not very consistent/unitary as look even for a Tim Burton movie (why am I not surprised that it has the same production designer as "Avatar"). Well, again like last time, also this part is pretty much in the same semi-chaotic tone which makes the subject lose itself among the rest. The idea of Alice being back to Wonderland to save it from the Queen of Hearts is present actually all the time, but somehow it seems that it should be written in a corner of the screen just to be sure that you won't forget it even if you have it in front of your eyes. On the set decoration part, almost all of the job was done on the pc, so it goes to the vfx section ... One clip with one of the few scenes that might have some real decoration/props:

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" - it's the opposite of Alice. If on VFX was bad here is quite good. And that's probably because they managed to keep the same Art Direction crew since the first HP. You can see that the whole series has quite the same visual look & feel, with some variations given by the cinematography (were unfortunately they didn't keep the best name they had on the list). The dark tone in the scene composition is kept and the tension created is completed by the chosen locations, which are quite various, and I always liked that. I really think that the Art Direction part is the best aspect from the last Potter. But it has some serious competition at this category. Anyway if it keeps the line for Part 2 maybe it can grab an Oscar. Until then, one clip which explains the "Deathly Hallows" from the title and also carries us a bit through the settings present in the 7th HP:

"Inception" is the serious competition I was saying above and also from my point of view the Oscar favorite. I'm still keeping some more detailed thoughts about the movie for later entries, maybe the last one :) (Like I said I have written last summer a detailed post in Ro but I'm too lazy to translate it or even re-read it). On today's topic, for the set decoration the things are made quite simple usually, and this keeps you on the real side of the movie which gets into the other/dream one by applying vfx to an apparently normal scene. The locations also help on the transition quite a lot not only directly but as a feeling also, you have a diversity in choosing settings which actually brings you closer to the base idea of "everything is possible in a dream". You get from indoor to outdoor, from sun to snow, etc. More on this in the next clip:

"The King's Speech" got lots of nominations this year, but I'm not very sure how many will turn into an Oscar. It's a movie with a subject that covers the first years of George VI as the monarch of United Kingdom. It seems that the guy had quite some issues with public speaking - more exactly a stammer, and he went through some therapy for a pretty long time, being helped by a former Australian actor - this being the main topic of the movie. More on the subject in future entries. About the Art Direction, I would place it at the same level with Alice but not because I didn't like the result here. I just find it too .. common. Yes, we have what is wanted - the period is surprised quite well, but this in not the first movie to do that, and I can't say it has anything special in achieving this. I recall now about "Atonement" which was also nominated for this category some years ago, and it's not very far, as many many other UK made films. They have quite an experience on recreating early XX century, or the Victorian age. But this is actually what makes that the final look to lose itself among many other titles. Besides that, 90% of the movie scenes are indoor which also diminishes the value on this category reported to the other nominations (well .. except Alice). Some idea about the decoration and also the ambiance of that time is discretely surprised in the next sequence:

I think "True Grit" is somewhere between "King's Speech" and "Harry Potter" for the Art Direction. I'm not getting into details about the movie - it's a western about which I've written around a month ago on my blog - more there. Well, I'll probably write a few general lines when I'll get to Best Picture category. For the moment, considering the genre, we have the same characteristic as in "King's Speech" = the movie must give a feeling as close as possible to a past time, in this case probably the end of the XIX century, but .. we have something extra - quite many outdoor scenes. Well, there isn't the diversity met in Potter or Inception but we have night scenes, day scenes, forest scenes, cave scenes, field scenes = we are pretty much carried through all the wild west terrain forms :). How they managed to recreate also the air of the old west town .. see below:

Next time .. I think I'm gonna take a break from the visual stuff and get to the sound ;)

Oscar 2011 - VFX

I'll start with the visual effects section, considering that for the moment is a bit more fresh in my head than the others. I actually had in mind to write a combined post including also the art direction, but I don't have enough time now for both of them. And besides that ... I think I'm gonna try to let a series of clips to "comment" more than I will (for sure it will bring more accurate info than I'm able to)

The first title on the nominee list (which is always alphabetical ordered) is "Alice in Wonderland". In a top for the Oscar favorites on this category, this movie probably would be the 2nd, meaning there are a few chances. The problem is that the effects, which are almost 90% of what you see on the screen, are on the same line with the specific Tim Burton "chaotic" style. Style, which I don't know how is perceived by other people, but on my case it manages to annoy me (well.. not every time, but in this case it does). I think that "Alice in Wonderland" was the perfect subject possible for this guy through the story/context nature, due to his directing style. And actually the result was pretty much as I expected. Shortly put - exaggeratedly dispersed out of the main storyline direction, which is quite lost among the whole mess. Maybe more on this in the next entry, because now I don't have enough time. Going back to the effects, even if, like I mentioned, these actually "carry" pretty much the whole movie, I think that in the same time also manage to make it a bit harder to watch. Maybe it's a matter of taste ... Anyway, to get to more objective info, the most parts of the film were shot in studio + computer generated. More on this in the next clip:

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" .. left pretty much of the effects for Part 2. It looks quite weak on this side, not that any from the whole series was in any way exceptional. Not only this, but also as a movie is probably among the worst of all the HP's. It suffers from the same problem as the rest actually. I don't have anything against J.K. Rowling but you can see from a mile away that she didn't have a clue about what she'll write in the 7th volume when she wrote the first. And this won't be a problem if it would be for a series, like I don't know .. Agatha Christie's Poirot novels, let's say .. where besides the main character you don't have any other connection between the books. But in case of Potter, it's completely different, we have to deal with a soapy saga from the first episode to the last. And of course we get the same result as in any script where the author doesn't know what he/she'll write after the next two episodes = weak, flawed & not very credible. More exactly in each Potter we get all sorts of new elements in the action, and these in theory are supposed to be known/exist from the first part (or even before), but until the current movie were probably classified as top-secret material = nobody mentioned anything about them. In this Potter we have the almighty/allpowerful/alleverything "Deathly Hallows" falling exactly in the mentioned category. But ... this topic was about VFX, wasn't it ? Yep, only that about VFX I don't have much to say, and I doubt that the Academy will have too. There is an aerial chase in the beginning of the movie (which I didn't found on YouTube to give as sample), some animation that is quite good where is placed (but I don't know if that matters as effects) and pretty much all the rest is about throwing lightnings from the wands accompanied by a la Gollum goblins. And this can actually be seen also in the next clip:

"Hereafter" ... just let me write it one more time ... I hope it's clear now. It's not ? Then -> ... It's the last Eastwood movie and as a movie is ok. Shortly put, is a drama with some romance touch in the end, centered on the idea of "what happens after you move your residence in the underground". Or more precise, about the perception of the living on the subject between "". Again, as a movie is fine, especially if you're in the mood for a slow-paced drama (although for the "afterlife" subject I personally prefer something more like "The Jacket") but ... it doesn't have effects ! Well, ok ... it has ... one scene/sequence in the beginning that consists in a tsunami sweeping an entire beach and beyond that. And this is actually quite nicely done, being pretty "immersive" so to speak :) for the viewer. However, a nomination for that ... I'm pretty sure that even the VFX team is more than happy with what they already got and don't expect more. Unfortunately (or maybe not) I can't give a spoiler with the single important effect in the movie - the tsunami, because I didn't find any clip .. so I'll go for the trailer:

I've written about "Inception" last summer on my Ro version of the blog ( sorry, no translation :) ) so I'll be a bit shorter on this. Anyway, I'll talk more when I'll get to some other categories. So, strictly related to VFX, I'm pretty convinced that here is the Oscar destination. Besides the fact that it actually helps the viewer to get "more deep" into the story (unlike "Alice" for example where the chromatic might actually make you close your eyes sometimes), "Inception" is also quite innovative on the VFX. From all the 5 nominees I think it has by far the many original elements, not necessarily in technical terms, but visually not seen very often before. Probably the next clip will set this more clearly:

"Iron Man 2" doesn't bring much original stuff on the VFX. I think the first "Iron Man" was better on this chapter. And in the second we pretty much have what we had in the first in terms of effects + some new CGI. Again, about the movie I've already written last summer on my Ro blog ( and again, sorry no translation :) ). In a few words - you may want to watch the film only if you really really like super-hero movies and you don't mind the eternally overused good-hero-almost-dying-but-then-rises-and-kicks-ass tagline or the lack of credibility of some hilarious Russian scientist played by .. Mickey Rourke. I think this is more than enough to say .. oh, and a clip about the VFX:

Back next time with Art Direction ;) ...